Abstract
A federal jury in Delaware has determined that the Indian agrochemical maker UPL and its Decco US Post-Harvest subsidiary stole technology from AgroFresh that keeps apples, pears, and other fruit fresh long after harvest. The jury awarded AgroFresh $31 million; UPL says it will appeal. The dispute concerns the use of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a synthetic gas used to delay fruit spoilage. Fruit starts the ripening process by releasing ethylene gas, and growers can slow ripening by adding 1-MCP to storage facilities, where the gas binds to fruit’s ethylene receptors and blocks the effects of ethylene. Researchers at North Carolina State University discovered 1-MCP in 1994. AgroFresh, a 2015 spin-off of Dow Chemical, pioneered development of the molecule. According to court documents, a onetime AgroFresh consultant developed a new generation of 1-MCP technology for fruit preservation and licensed patents to Decco in 2016. AgroFresh, however, successfully argued that it owned the
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